Great Expectations 2009: We Raise the Bar for Obama

In a good essay about that deals more with our national soul than the economy, David Newquist makes the following observations about the significance of the coming Obama administration:

At least with the Obama regime, people who expect better of their government and say so will not be termed disloyal and unpatriotic. And people who expect better of our business community and say so will not be termed communist and anti-free-enterprise. And people who are smart and work hard and attain good educations and establish impressive achievements will not be dismissed as elitist [David Newquist, "Better Prospects for the Economy," Northern Valley Beacon, 2008.11.27].

Newquist's mention of our expectations makes me think of one distinct strand of sour grapes coming from the nattering nabobs of Nobama negativism: the frequent warnings that Obama can't live up to his supporters' expectations.

It must be simply crushing for the bitter fringe of the radical right to see the destroyer of their party, Mr. Low Expectations himself, George W. Bush, replaced by a Democrat of whom we actually expect performance. As a teacher and coach, I've always thought it better to hold students to the highest expectations, to say, "Forget the easy stuff—let's go for something big!" The same high expectations are all the more appropriate for the leader of the free world.

When I say I expect great things of President Barack Hussein Obama, I'm not praising him. I'm setting goals, standards of achievement to which he must rise. I won't say to our President, "Oh, just do what you can, try not to bump into the nuclear button, and that'll be fine." America and the world deserve better, and we should keep the pressure on our President to aim high.

For the last eight years, we seem to have forgotten that the Presidency is a high jump, not a limbo contest. Fellow lefties, keep that bar high. Mr. Obama, let's see some vertical!